One of America's greatest novelists dazzlingly reinvents the coming-of-age story in his most passionate and surprising book to date.
Sinuously constructed in four interlocking parts, Paul Auster's fifteenth novel opens in New York City in the spring of 1967, when twenty-year-old Adam Walker, an aspiring poet and student at Columbia University, meets the enigmatic Frenchman Rudolf Born and his silent and seductive girfriend, Margot. Before long, Walker finds himself caught in a perverse triangle that leads to a sudden, shocking act of violence that will alter the course of his life.
Three different narrators tell the story of Invisible, a novel that travels in time from 1967 to 2007 and moves from Morningside Heights, to the Left Bank of Paris, to a remote island in the Caribbean. It is a book of youthful rage, unbridled sexual hunger, and a relentless quest for justice.
With uncompromising insight, Auster takes us into the shadowy borderland between truth and memory, between authorship and identity, to produce a work of unforgettable power that confirms his reputation as 'one of America's most spectacularly inventive writers.'
Fab, looking forward to it. Like Kingsolver, Paul Auster is another novelist I keep meaning to read, but so far haven't gotten around to it. Invisible has had great reviews. It's a dark tale, apparently, but very well written.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful collaboration this is between Faber & Faber and Orkney Library. I'm proud to be a member.
This one sounds a lot more promising. Looking forward to getting my copy.
ReplyDeleteRead New York Trilogy some years ago, and enjoyed it, so I have high hopes for this too. Auster's studies into the role of language, or what happens when there is a lack of it, tends to be quite a distinct theme for him, so should provoke some interesting discussion.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as I have just finished 'The Lacuna' (at last!) I am looking forward to getting this new one!
ReplyDeleteCan't say I found this book a tantalizing page turner..but I managed to plough on to the end...The sectioning of the story was unusual and it was well written...but like many books I got the feeling the author lost steam half way through and just went through the motions of finishing the book to meet a publication deadline...
ReplyDeletePicked this book up yesterday. Enjoyed reading Part One and looking forward to the rest. Will be in touch.
ReplyDeletethanks for the book stewart - no excuses now!
ReplyDeleteFinding this one more engrossing than the Lacuna (but not making enough time to read at the moment). I may be very old-fashioned, but I do wish he'd put direct speech into inverted commas, though. There have been several pages where I've suddenly realised that I'm reading a conversation and have had to go back to check where it started and who is saying what. For me, this spoils the flow and is an irritating affectation.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed thoughts of this book. I found it interesting, and it hooked me in as I read it fairly swiftly. I found the narration of each section irritating as I tried to work out who was telling the story. In my view the author should have made this clearer from the outset.
ReplyDeleteLike Effy I also found the ending too rushed with too many loose ends. There is a difference between letting readers make up their own minds, and leaving them in the dark without a light!
If I am completely honest the only word I can find to sum up how I feel about Invisible is 'strange'. I agree that parts of it are certainly well written, in particular the first third section of the book. The characters were interesting enough, although I did wish at times that there were a bit more 'meat and bones' to them. I agree with others who said that the end was a bit flimsy- I am not really sure what conclusions to draw from it in all honesty (was everyone lying? was no-one lying?, how much of it was real and how much was someone's imagination working overtime?, and so on)! I have not read any of Auster's other works and in some ways this book has made me want to pick up another (if only to confirm he is the excellent author so many report him to be, and that perhaps this title is not his best!).
ReplyDeleteJust got this book the other day and really liking it so far. Auster's put a new twist on the old "here's a manuscript I found and it's a true story, honest" by only introducing the idea in the second part - I didn't see that coming. Not reading the rest of the comments on here yet as I'm only at page 95 and I don't want to spoil the ending for myself!
ReplyDeleteI have got as far as "Fall" and I am giving up. The writing is good, but I do not identify with any of the characters, nor do I much care what happens to them or what the truth of the story may be. Entirely agree with Mary Reid. Think shall get out Shakespeare and re-read Measure for Measure. It was better!
ReplyDeleteI finished the book last night at bedtime. To be honest, it kept me awake for some time. I spent a couple of sleepless hours trying to work out just what it was all about.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but for me it was a non-event. There were no characters that I could care about -- they all lacked development. The changing narrators device seemed pointless -- we could have been treated to a clear change of POV but were not.
The lack of speech marks drove me just about nuts and overall I think that my biggest issue with this book lies in the dialogue. Can I even call it dialogue? OK, "Reported Dialogue" then. I tried and tried to justify it (in part 1) by telling myself that the narrator is telling it at a distance and is merely imparting the general sense of conversations held long ago... but it just all seemed so flat and trite.
Despite that, the way in which the conversation is written -- it’s staccato quality -- really drives the pace of the book forward. It is a fast read – though that may be because I found no passages to savour and re-read.
Characters were not really developed through their conversations and Born especially seemed a cardboard cut-out. I spent large chunks of Part 1 expecting that this was to be a story about Schizophrenia and that Born was in fact a figment of Adam's own mind. Perhaps this was the Author’s skill showing – as we find at the end, Born was a man who would have had his guard up constantly. He would have constructed an identity, perhaps even a persona. Were we meant to see him as a false construct, perhaps?
I did not enjoy reading this book but it was mercifully short and I made it to the ending. Ending? What kind of an ending as that, then? It hurtled to a stop and I was left turning pages, looking for the remainder of the story.
Did Auster set out to write one book, forget what he was doing, and then finish an altogether different book? Has he glued two manuscripts together by accident? Of what point is the incest thread, if this book is actually about Born? How can a book be all about a character that we rarely see in action? Yes. I am mightily confused about this book and what it is actually about, and I strongly fear that I need to read it again in order to work that out.
4/10 would not recommend, and am not drawn to attempt any of Auster’s other offerings.
(Apologies for being so lengthy and for doing my thinking out loud!)
Ummm - I've just re-read the introductory blurb at the top of this page and find myself wondering if I've inadvertently stepped into a parallel universe where another writer called Paul Auster has written another book called Invisible. Certainly the book I've just finished bears little resemblance to the glowing publicity comments. If this Auster's "most passionate book to date", it doesn't say much for his earlier novels (I haven't read any of them, and this one wouldn't whet my appetite in the slightest). Where was the "uncompromising insight"? The "unforgettable power"? Sorry - they seem to have passed me by. "Dazzling" isn't a term that would feature in my estimation of the book; "pedestrian" might. There were interesting - even engaging - passages, but my overall impression was of a story that meandered along without really going anywhere, then petered out at the end. Not one for the collection, I'm afraid.
ReplyDeletevisitors delayed my starting this book - from the comments above, i dont seem to have been missing very much?; will have a go regardless and hope to post later - that is if my google account behaves itself and allows me to...
ReplyDeleteNot the best book I've ever read but not the worst either. Am I the only one who didn't notice the lack of speech marks? I was a bit confused when the narration changed mid way but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention in the beginning.The book in sections made it more bearable even if I was a little grossed out in the middle section. I never really understood why the sex with the sister bit was relevant to the story line either. Just thought it an odd underdeveloped, gratuitous addition. It didn't really add to the overall story line. Or did it and I missed something? Overall I 'quite' liked it but that's as good as it gets.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I have been wondering too and conclude that the incest theme was perhaps part of building the evidence for a wholly self-obsessed character. Everything revolves around Adam; his morals, his needs, his desires. Other people -- parents, society, can go hang. He is all about himself (and his sister). This the author balances out by erasing his character gradually from our view; from life.
ReplyDeleteIn proposing this, I am trying to find reason not only for the seemingly gratuitious incest but also for the apparent convolution of the changing narrator. Perhaps even the bewildering sudden ending is representative of Adam's actual demise. The book ends as a life does; here one moment and gone the next. Just switched off.
Clearly, I have no real idea! The book completely mystifies me --- I think perhaps it is so deep and over my head that I perceive it to be shallow, not seeing the real complexities in it. That is the only possible explanation for all those enthusiastic reviews -- I am just too dense to appreciate this marvellous writing :-)
excuse me please while i try yet again to post on this site via my google account which is messing about with my password
ReplyDeletehah! ; its worked!; lets hope it lasts - i was trying to say that perhaps publishers nowadays insist upon gratuitous add-ons of psychopathic violence, rape, incest and much much more to boost sales; but its all a bit too much for many of my mature ( ie doddery) age group who dont need to be frightened by fiction having already been more than frightened enough by real life?
ReplyDeleteI didn't like this book at all, because I didn't care what happened to any of the shallow, self-obsessed characters. I gave up about a third of the way through, flicked through and read some of the ending, and was really pleased I hadn't wasted any more of my life on this book... I rarely give up on a book.
ReplyDeleteLast time I posted I'd got up to p95 and was really enjoying it - well things really started getting weird after p95 didn't it?! I agree with Al's post, the middle incest section just seemed gratuitous and unecessary. I thought the initial premise was strong and he'd set up complex (if not sympathetic) characters, however, the middle section just seemed to go off on a tangent and add nothing to the original plot. It's a shame that Auster didn't think he had a strong enough concept and needed to pad it out with this. It hasn't put be off though, and I'd try Auster again if anyone can recommend a better title?
ReplyDeleteApologies for the lateness of my review, I am way behind with my reading.
ReplyDeleteAfter the previous comments on this blog I began reading Paul Auster's Invisible with a little trepidation, but I needn't have worried. I was immediately sucked in. In brief, I found this novel simultaneously fascinating, intriguing and disturbing.
Not having read any of the author's previous books I didn't know what to expect. What is frustrating is the fact I'm unable to define precisely what made this one so hard to put down. Its characters aren't that well defined, its setting and sense of location, apart from the naming of a few places and streets, is almost entirely non-existent. Yes, the story takes place in New York and Paris, apparently, but the same tale could have happened almost anywhere. So it's the plot alone which gripped me and held me spellbound.
Even though I could predict at least part of what was to come there was a darkness and unease about it which kept me turning the pages to see if I was right. The writing style, straight-forward and unadorned by complex language and imagery, provides both the pacing and momentum.
The surprise twist for me was at the end when Gwyn's telephone conversation with Jim revealed that Adam Walker had invented the incestuous relationship with his sister. It's not unheard of that loners who spend too much time in their own company and thoughts sometimes confuse imagination with reality. I guess this was the author's attempt to dig down deep into the personality of his main protagonist and show just how flawed he was. I actually think this is a book all about damaged souls, none more so than Rudolf Born who I was fully expecting to meet a sticky end, but didn't. The only truly sympathetic individual was Cecile whom Auster treated to the change and development necessary in order to create a character able to shine out from the page.
I have finally read this book, having not wanted to pick it up for months - mainly because I read an Auster at college over 20 years ago (The Invention of Solitude) which at that time was a huge influence on me and I thought was incredible, and then I came back to it recently and got nothing from it at all - so I was nervous about having a similar disappointed reaction to Invisible.
ReplyDeleteI thought it started well - made sense, interesting, I liked the writing, it was a quick read, but it seemed to go downhill as I read and the end has really frustrated me - why suddenly turn to someone else's narrative, and end in a way that left me feeling cheated - it wasn't really an end, nothing was wrapped up, no links were made that made sense of the previous narrative, I could make no sense of the Born character, and Adam had been forgotten.
I really wanted to enjoy this book - and I did for the first 2 parts, but I agree with the other comments that this book seemed to run out of steam or something.
I really wanted this to be good but maybe Auster had too many ideas rattling around and it would have been better if he had stuck to a couple of the ideas and worked them through. I won't rush to read another one.
March 28th
ReplyDeleteJackie said.
I have just finished INVISIBLE, a strange book with a very odd ending. It just seemed to stop as if the rest of the book had been lost.
Not a book I would have read from choice and not one I would have missed. Just about to start THE OBSERVATIONS hope it's better.